1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a terminal connecting apparatus for a storage device. More specifically, the invention relates to a terminal connecting apparatus for electrically connecting a terminal portion of a storage device, such as an IC card, to a predetermined circuit terminal portion or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, storage media generally called memory cards for use in the transferring of money, the send and receive of information and so forth, and apparatuses for writing/reading in/out of such storage media have been developed. Such an apparatus for writing/reading in/out of a storage device uses a terminal connecting apparatus for electrically connecting a terminal portion (for input/output) of the storage device to a predetermined circuit terminal portion.
A conventional example of such a terminal connecting apparatus for a storage device is shown in FIGS. 22 and 23. In FIG. 22, the terminal connection apparatus for a storage device comprises a frame 3, provided on a circuit substrate 2, for receiving a substantially plate-shaped storage device 1, and a connector 8 provided in the frame 3. As shown in FIG. 23, the storage device 1 has a plurality of terminal portions 10 (see FIG. 22), and the circuit substrate 2 has a plurality of circuit terminal portions 20, each of which corresponds to a corresponding one of the terminal portions 10 of the storage device 1.
The connector 8 has a plurality of conductive plate springs 80. Each of the plate springs 80 has a contact protruding portion 82 corresponding to a corresponding one of the terminal portions 10 of the storage device 1, and a fixed end portion 84 soldered to a corresponding one of the circuit terminal portions 20 of the circuit substrate 2. As the storage device 1 is inserted into the frame 3, the contact protruding portions 82 of the plate springs 80 are depressed. When the insertion of the storage device 1 is completed, the contact protruding portions 82 of the plate springs 80 resiliently contact the corresponding terminal portions 10 of the storage device 1.
However, in the above described conventional terminal connecting apparatus, each of the terminal portions 10 of the storage device 1 and the corresponding one of the contact protruding portions 82 of the plate springs 80 rub against each other every time the storage device 1 is inserted or ejected, so that the terminal portions 10 and the contact protruding portions 82 tend to be worn away. Therefore, there is a problem in that the durable number of inserting/ejecting operations of the storage device 1 is small.